Ex-Inkster Cop Has 'No Idea' Why He Beat Suspect Unconscious

William Melendez, the former Inkster police officer who beat a suspect unconscious in January 2015, “has no idea why he assaulted and seriously injured a citizen that posed no meaningful threat to him or his partner” and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the military and years as a cop, according to a parole report.

Melendez, 48, was convicted last November of misconduct in office and assault with the intent to do great bodily harm in the beating of Floyd Dent during a traffic stop. Dashcam video showed Melendez punching Dent in the head 16 times in the internationally sensational case. The bloody beating of Dent, an African-American, has been compared to other police stops across the nation involving white officers and black suspects. Dent, a Detroit autoworker, was hospitalized for three days.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans sentenced Melendez to 13 months to 10 years in prison, which was below the sentencing guidelines of 29 to 57 months in prison. The charges against Melendez also included misconduct in office.

Melendez is being considered for parole at the completion of behavior modification therapy — a move strongly opposed by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who cited Melendez’s “absolute betrayal of the trust and authority placed on him to protect the community and uphold the laws of this state.”

“His actions have had a severe detrimental impact on both the police community and the community at large,” Worthy wrote in the four-page letter.

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The parole report, obtained by The Detroit News under the Freedom of Information Act, details questioning by prison staff and parole board members considering his early release from the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia, where he is serving his sentence.

Melendez said in the interview that he was “trying to protect his fellow officers and in accordance with police protocol” and alleged that Dent “threatened to kill him and his partner.”

He admitted that after reviewing the facts of the case that he “handled the situation poorly” and would handle it differently if he had the chance, according to the report.

Gregory Rohl, Dent’s attorney, also opposes Melendez's early release.

“He was given 13 months to 10 years for the brutality evidenced on the video, and he compounded his attack by planting cocaine and making fun of Floyd after the fact,” Rohl told The Detroit News. “It seems very preferential and, if the roles were reversed, I’m sure Floyd would not have enjoyed such a reprieve.”

In her letter to the parole board, Worthy wrote: “The video admitted at trial shows the defendant using excessive force to brutalize Mr. Dent. Mr. Dent was unarmed, never fought back, never struck (Melendez) and was unsuccessful in attempting to protect himself from the defendant’s unrelenting attack.”

At least one parole board member is also skeptical about an early release.

“Mr. Melendez’s lack of understanding of his criminal behavior is unacceptable and leads me to question his statement that something like this will never happen again. I do not support a parole at this time,” parole board member Barbara Simpson wrote in the report dated Oct. 24.

Another board member, Sonia Warchock, wrote that Melendez “has no idea why he assaulted and seriously injured a citizen that posed no threat to him or his partner” and “his lack of his criminal behavior leads me to doubt his statement that something like this will never happen again.”

If parole is granted, Melendez could be back home with his wife, Kerry, a Detroit police officer, within a few weeks.

Before the incident involving Dent, Melendez had been named in a dozen lawsuits questioning his conduct as a police officer. As a member of the Detroit Police Department, he cost the city more than $1 million in settlements and was the subject of more citizen complaints than any other officer in the city.

By the time a lawsuit involving the 1996 shooting death of an unarmed man, who was shot 11 times in a traffic stop, was settled in 1999, Melendez had been sued four additional times for alleged use of unreasonable force.

Photos via Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office